1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to nano-scaffolds, and more specifically, to genetically engineered nanoscale metal reactive surfaces that are useful in nano-devices, including sensors, solar cells, batteries, electrodes, transistors, semiconductor chips and capacitors.
2. Related Technology
High surface area nanostructured materials have uses in an array of applications including electrodes, catalyst supports, thermal barriers, sensor arrays and energy storage devices. Increased surface areas are generally achieved through the synthesis of particles with high surface to volume ratios or the manufacture of nanostructured materials from bulk substrates.1, 2 Methods used to create high surface area nanostructures, such as laser ionization or lithography, generally require complex and expensive technologies that can limit the application of these materials. To avoid such limitations, researchers are increasingly investigating alternative methods for the self-assembly of high surface area nanostructured9 materials and devices. One approach is templating materials onto biologically derived substrates. Biological templates such as nucleic acids and viruses have evolved to self-assemble into hierarchically ordered structures with high surface to volume aspects, making them ideal for the synthesis of high surface area nanomaterials.
Previous studies have functionalized DNA3, virus particles and protein tubules5-8 using a variety of methods to produce field effect transistors9, battery electrodes10 and memory devices11. Recent work has shown that electrostatically induced alignments of uniform macromolecules such as viruses can be used to produce two-dimensional monolayers of biological templates12. However, the assembly and surface attachment of biologicals has primarily relied on the random association of bio-templates onto device surfaces. The use of biological components in nanostructured materials also requires the development of strategies to functionalize these components upon assembly.
One area of particular interest is the development of methods to obtain continuous and uniform coatings of reactive metals. Most deposition strategies rely on the reduction of metal directly onto the surface of the biological template.13-18 This methodology typically produces discrete metal particles that decorate the surface of the bio-template, but often lack the uniformity needed to produce highly conductive surfaces. As such, the arbitrary nature of this process can limit the usefulness of bio-templates in device assembly and represents a significant obstacle in creating high surface area nanostructured materials.
Thus, there is a need to develop new methodologies for the oriented and uniform assembly of bio-templates that easily adhere to device surfaces and also provide uniformity of metal surfaces to produce highly conductive surfaces.